Ayhancan Güven is set to make his debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship for the 2026 season, after being formally confirmed by Manthey Racing, following his DTM switch.

The Turkish driver won the 2025 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters after one of the best last laps in the championship’s history, narrowly beating the BMW of Marco Wittmann for the race win at the Hockenheimring and securing the title by a 5-point margin over second-placed Lucas Auer.

For 2026, however, Güven stays with the Manthey squad, not in DTM but in WEC. He joins Richard Lietz as the first of two drivers confirmed for the Manthey team, and with that, he will become only the second Turkish driver in history to contest a full WEC season, after 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner Salih Yoluç.

Manthey’s Director of Racing, Patrick Arkenau, said: “We would have loved to go on the mission to defend our title in the DTM with him, but now we are very much looking forward to competing in the next FIA WEC season together with him.”

Photo credit: Artie Chatzikonstantinou